Daddy Daugter Date Dresses.

Celia is going to a Daddy Daughter Dance tonight at her elementary school with her daddy! She wears a lot of different dresses to church so we had a little fashion show to decide which dress she wanted to wear tonight. I was glad Celia let me take pictures since she is definitely not a fan of the camera. My macro lens is stuck on my camera so I'll go and get that fixed today, but in the meantime we had a fun morning trying these on and counting down. Ten hours until dance time! The light pink one with satin and pearls won. It was Emmy's so it is even more special for me to see her in it.

Bodega Bay On Monday

 We had a lovely trip to Bodega Bay on Martin Luther King's Day. The kids were out of school, but I couldn't get Joseph to come. He said he didn't' want to have any adventures. I'm going to remember that as he goes into his teenage years.~ I had never been to Bodega bay, but with Emmy as my co pilota and some help from navigation we got there. We parked in a coastal access area which turned out to be almost two miles from the beach. It was a lovely nature walk and bird watching area. Not nearly as green as we are used to in the rainy season here. There was a cute bridge and benches to sit on, but still Spencer insisted we go back to the car. After he through his toys in the lake of course. I found a way in the car to get closer to the shore in the car. Spence never did get out to see the waves, he was tired from our walk.

 Emmy played with Celia in the sand and I watched Spencer then we traded. Emmy is such a great help. I took a detour on the ride home to go see Dillon's beach. Spencer was very  interested in the view of the ocean. I'm glad we was able to see the coast and realize our purpose for going so far that day. I found my favorite store( Grocery Outlet) in Petaluma on the way home and we got treats from there. I'm glad Celia was so calm and happy. We've had drama for her at school and she seemed unaffected by her usual anxiety while we were there. I kinda liked the peacefulness of it too. I'm grateful for such wonderful opportunities and great family.

How cute is this?

Andrew( Emmy's Boyfriend) called me to let us know he would be putting something on Emmy's car  for her to find this morning to ask her to Winter Ball. I thought maybe he would put a poster on her car door or something. It turned out really cute. The decorations definitely gave the car the "Rose Parade" look. The letters were made of flowers! The front message is made of corn kernels because it is corny, according to Andrew. I love that he came to see her reaction and Emmy was really happy and surprised! They are off to Emmy's seminary together. Now we get to prep for a formal, which I enjoy! I'm actually really excited I got to use my new fancy flash and wide angle lens for these pictures in the dark. Props to Brian for getting those for me, I love photography!~

Routines

     When we have routines, it seems we remember things. With my children if they have a morning routine, that means less reminding for me to do. The order gives us guidance on what comes next. I went outside my normal routine yesterday. Every Tuesday morning I go to the gym with Laurie then I have a parent training with Alicia right after. I was given two different opportunities on Tuesday morning so I switched things around. The alternative activities didn't turn out, but I enjoyed going to Whole Foods to get some yummy tomatillo salsa and there was a farmers marker out front and I enjoyed that too. It was out of the norm, but it was nice. I love and look forward to our Date night routine as well. We went for Tom Yuk Gai soup at Star of Siam. That soup is extremely tasty. They didn't bring it out with the fire going on the metal soup container, but it was delicious still the same.

     Good things can still happen even if things don't go as planned or the way we wanted. I didn't play volleyball at the church because it was cancelled, I didn't go to get my hair played with for a couple hours to be a hair model, but I was happy I went to John Adam's Academy and found out that there was a tour of the school once a month and it was that day. I went to it later. I am looking for a great fit for Celia. I really felt there would be a great fit for her. I like the ten core values they have and how it seems the learning is embedded in all they do.

     Celia does great with the tutors learning all sorts of life skills that are embedded. We made some cute rainbow loom bracelets and beaded crafts with ally. We were learning to finish a project, take turns, compromise on activities and social interactions. It seemed like fun to her! I love it when I can kill two birds with one stone. I can use my new photography fun tools while preparing to blog and I am reinforcing Celia's success all at the same time. I hope we can get Celia into John Adams sooner than later. There is a waiting list so time will tell.
     
In the meantime it is IEP month for me, Starting this week. I will be advocating for Celia and Spencer and helping them to get the best routines for learning and growing the best they can at this time. I feel grateful for the good things they have going and opportunities for change.

Beginning School Again

It was a little bumpy getting the kids back in school after the long vacation. Spence has been doing great toilet training at school. He gets mad he cannot change pull ups when he is dry. We'll work on that, but it is exciting that he is showing some promise in that area. Celia and Joseph had an extra half day because of the different start dates of kiddos in our family(oops) therefore lots of classwork and homework to do. Celia is having negative interactions with the kids in her class. I mean several of them. I miss vacation already where she can feel safe, love and where most she had positive experiences. She really can get quite anxious and have nightmares due to working out all the problems she has at school in her head at night. Poor thing. 

Celia was able to go to the gym with me which is has been begging to do. We used to go a lot since she was a baby and she would play in the kids care. We'd even go before her afternoon kindergarten class. Now she rarely gets to go because she is a big second grader and has school. She is learning a lot though. Celia has made quite a bit of progress in catching up on reading , is doing well with subtraction and borrowing although she admits she like addition better. I am just so amazed at how she works hard at things that are difficult for her then makes great strides.  Even with hiking/walking. Celia usually didn't make it more than a block without saying how tired she was after building up to it. She can walk a little further. I love walking around this track like path with the kids on our days off. Spencer is more cooperative about it on certain days, but we try nonetheless.
Spence liked school. he is back to no behaviors and all smiles. We would love that at home too. He is such a routine junky, hehe.

New Year's Tradition

Hello New Year. A fresh start, a clean slate. The walls look a little bare, but most of Christmas is down. It feels like we extended our Christmas quite a bit by traveling to the Los Angeles area to visit my folks and meet up with my sister and her family. The padres never fail to impress with their celebratory decorations and holiday food. The kids and I had a nice trip. There wasn't too much L. A. traffic and even though it is a long drive, we seemed to make it there without hardship.  Emmy even participated in driving a little. She is turning out to be quite the helper. 
I was happy I was able to get my nails done while there and a great car wash at Whitwood Car Wash. I love their indoor outdoor cleaning package. It isn't too expensive and really renews the look of the car! We had a great time with the family laughing, playing games and spending time together. Some wonderful highlights were; Newport Beach, Downtown Disney, and walking with my girls.

We have gone to L.A. for New Year's for many years, it is a great tradition. I was really glad Tanya and her boys flew from Hawaiian to be with the family. We hadn't seen them since last Near Year's so it was a special time!